KOLKATA: Former West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday again appealed to the Congress and CPI(M) in the state to unite against the BJP, while making it clear that rebel MPs, MLAs and leaders would not be taken back into the party.
Addressing the annual July 21 'Martyrs' Day' rally organised by her faction near Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, Mamata said, "I want everyone to unite under the banner of the INDIA alliance in Bengal to fight the BJP. I don't have any ego. I urge others also to keep aside their differences and fight together.”
She also said, "If needed, I will join protest staged by Cockroach Janata Party."
Though she did not name the Congress or the CPI(M), her remarks were seen as an appeal to the INDIA bloc partners in West Bengal despite political differences.
Mamata also stepped up her attack on the rebel leaders and challenged them to join the BJP openly.
"I challenge the traitors to directly join the BJP and fight elections," she said.
She accused the rebels of acting as proxies of the BJP and asked them to stop acting as the BJP's "side pillow" and formally join the party.
"If you want to support the BJP, go to the BJP. The more of you who leave, the happier I will be. My students and youth workers are there to fill every vacancy," she said.
"Those thieves have gone to the BJP. I will never take them back," she asserted.
She also alleged that the rebels, with the BJP's support, were trying to take away the Trinamool Congress' "twin flower" symbol but said they could not do so as she is the party's founder-chairperson.
Following directions from the Calcutta High Court, Kolkata Police allowed Mamata Banerjee's faction to hold the rally near Birla Planetarium with a crowd limit of around 3,000 instead of the traditional venue at Esplanade.
The Mamata Banerjee-led faction had approached the Calcutta High Court alleging vandalism at the rally venue on Monday night. Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya directed the Joint Commissioner (Headquarters) of Kolkata Police to submit a report on July 31. The court also directed the police to provide security for the rally and assist in dismantling the stage and removing materials by 9 pm on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the breakaway faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee held a parallel Martyrs' Day rally on Mayo Road.
On Monday, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari claimed in the West Bengal Assembly that the Justice Susanta Chatterjee Commission, constituted to probe the 1993 police firing in Kolkata, did not summon Mamata Banerjee, whom he described as a key eyewitness.
“Significantly, Mamata Banerjee was not summoned by the Commission,” Suvendu said, adding, “it had summoned 44 eyewitnesses, including the former CM Buddhadev Bhattacharya and senior police officials, but Mamata Banerjee was not reportedly called for to appear before the investigations.”
He further said, “With instructions of Manish Gupta, the police firing had happened. The justification of police firing causing so many deaths could not be proved.”
Referring to the commission's report, Suvendu said the police firing took place without provocation but it remained unclear who instructed Manish Gupta to order the firing during the 1993 protest.
He also alleged that Mamata never made the report public to protect Manish Gupta, a former minister in her Cabinet.
“Mamata did never try to give justice to those people killed in the incident of firing though she has been organising the ‘Martyrs’ Day’ rally for years on 21 July. It’s her vote bank politics,” he alleged.